1. Field
This invention relates to devices utilized in measuring the length of objects. More particularly, the invention is directed to an apparatus which may be utilized in the measuring of truck spans, specifically spans of semi-trucks and their associated trailers.
2. Statement of the Art
Paved highways and roads, due to the compositional nature of their structure, have limits in their capacity to carry heavy loads. When trucks or other vehicles, which carry heavy loads, pass over roads with any degree of regularity, the compressive force which is imparted to the paved structure can, over time, contribute to the deterioration or the actual destruction of the road itself. In order to extend the wear life of public roads and highways, state governmental bodies have legislated a number of statutes and regulations which are intended to limit the loads which vehicular traffic can carry over public thoroughfares. These laws typically take into consideration not only the magnitude of the load being carried by a vehicle, but furthermore, the laws also address the way a load is distributed on a vehicle. Many statutes and regulations take into a consideration the span or distance between the load-supporting wheels of the truck and the truck's trailer in which the load is being carried. Various formulas are used to determine the permissible loads which may be carried by a given truck having a specific span characteristic.
While statutes and regulations limiting the loads being carried over public thoroughfares are viewed with favor by civil engineers and statutory legislative bodies alike, their implementation by law enforcement authorities has encountered some difficulty. The most specific problem faced in enforcing load-carrying laws is the procedures involved in actually measuring the span of the truck.
A conventional practice, utilized by a majority of law enforcement officials is to use a conventional measuring tape to measure the truck's span. The use of a measuring tape requires the user to anchor the free end of the tape at a bench mark location while the remainder of the tape is stretched along the length of the truck. It is the anchoring of the measuring tape to a bench mark which has contributed to the difficulties which have arisen in taking quality measurements of a truck span.
Owing to budgetary constraints, law enforcement agencies are typically restricted to allocating only a single law enforcement individual to the measurement of any given truck which may enter a weighing station for measurement. With this constraint in place, this single law enforcement officer is oftentimes obliged to request the assistance of the vehicle's driver in taking the requisite measurements. While initially the use of the vehicle's driver as an assistant in the measuring process may appear to be a ready expedient, the use of the driver has contributed enormously to creating problems for law enforcement officers in obtaining accurate measurement data. Understandably, the truck driver has a vested interest in the measurements being taken. If the driver is found to have exceeded the load-carrying capability of his vehicle, oftentimes fines of a considerable dollar amount are assessed against the driver. Since the law enforcement officer is generally the individual which reels out the measuring tape and therefore is in a position to observe the marked portion of the tape which corresponds to the measurement is being taken, it follows that the truck driver is consistently requested to hold the free end of the measuring tape at a bench mark location. It follows that many drivers are incentivized to tamper with the measurements being taken by adjusting the positioning of the end of the measuring tape during the measuring process. Since many of the truck trailers which are measured in weigh stations achieve a considerable length, oftentimes when the measuring tape is extended sufficiently outward, e.g. from the frontmost tire to the rearmost tire of the truck, the law enforcement officer is sufficiently distanced from the free end of the measuring tape that he is unable to accurately observe whether or not the truck driver is positioning the end of the tape at the requisite benchmark location. It has been found that many truck drivers have been involved in attempting to alter, or otherwise modify, the results of the measuring process, by intentionally misaligning the free end of the measuring tape.
To complicate matters further, it has been reported that a recent judicial decision in this area held that the law enforcement officer's use of the truck driver in assisting in the measuring process was impermissible in that the truck driver was being asked by the law enforcement officer to participate in an activity which may in fact incriminate the driver.
Attempts at providing a retainer which is mountable on the vehicle for purposes of securing the end of the measuring tape without the constant attendance of a human being is complexified by the nature of the measurements being taken. The measurements which are utilized by law enforcement officials are typically measured from the center of one wheel to the center of a second wheel. The use of this "center-to-center" measuring approach obligates the law enforcement officer to position the end of the tape at a location which is collinear with the axle of the vehicle. Recognizing that many truck wheels do not include a structural member which is positioned at the center of the wheel to which the end of the tape can be affixed, the positioning of the tape at this location causes some difficulty. A second concern arises from the common use by many truck drivers of specialized wheels. For example, many truck drivers, in order to customize the appearance of their vehicles, have special chromed wheels which are expensive to produce and maintain. Truck operators are therefore extremely hesitant to permit the positioning or mounting of any measuring device on the wheel for fear that it may scratch or otherwise deface the highly polished surface of the wheel.
Another consideration is that the use of metal measuring tapes introduces a structural problem. Recognizing that many trucks achieve lengths over 75 feet, it is recognizable that when the tape is extended this distance, not only would the weight of the tape itself exert a considerable downward force on any retainer to which it may be attached, but furthermore, in order to obtain an accurate measurement, the law enforcement officer must pull the tape taut, which would apply additional tension to the support.
Given the above-stated problems, it follows that there presently exists a need for an apparatus which is useable to form a retainer for purposes of holding a free end of a measuring tape during its use in measuring the various spans of a truck or other vehicle.